Asteroid City

"You can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep." Asteroid City weaves serious themes into an otherwise whimsical film fantastically; Anderson once more demonstrating mastery of story construction. I don't think I can truly do this film justice without a rewatch, there is just so much going on. The film has so many layers it is quite difficult to grasp all the themes in one go (I certainly haven't) In regard to Themes and Motifs, there is no shortage. The parallelism in particular stood out, as I believe was intended given the cuts between the play and the set. The film is unequivocally meta, I am unsure as to how well it will be received overall, but only time will tell. The Story is great. without giving anything away, the pivotal point of the film really takes the story in a completely different direction (seeing it in the theater certainly added to the experience) As is to be expected from a Wes Anderson picture, the film is very whimsical and the humor is extremely on the nose (in the best way possible) It would be a crime to review a Wes Anderson picture without discussing the cinematography, and it is excellent. There are no shortage of perfectly centered shots, or fast pans. The pastel color palette really works with Anderson's style and matched the story, and setting perfectly. I don't think I can adequately finish this review without mentioning The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) The film that sparked my interest in film as a whole. Does this film live up the former? Yes, at least to some degree. For me The Grand Budapest Hotel is on a near immovable pedestal, at least for the time being, so it's almost unfair to hold them next to each other, nevertheless this film certainly resembles the prior in some form. In summation Asteroid City presents an fantastic story, within a story, within a play, within a film. (5/5)